Four men in their 30s were rescued by helicopter Thursday morning and taken to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center with injuries including altitude sickness and frostbite. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

Four men in their 30s were rescued by helicopter Thursday morning and taken to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center with injuries including altitude sickness and frostbite. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

After harrowing nights, climber says ‘Don’t mess with Rainier’

Four men, stranded for days on the mountain, were rescued just as they doubted they could continue.

  • By Wire Service
  • Friday, June 7, 2019 1:49pm
  • Northwest

Associated Press

SEATTLE — One of the climbers stranded for days near the top of Mount Rainier in Washington state told reporters Thursday night, “Don’t mess with Rainier.”

Climber Yevgeniy Krasnitskiy of Portland, Oregon, spoke those words as he described the harrowing conditions his group of four faced after one of them became ill and unexpected winds ripped through their camp Sunday night, causing them to lose some of their gear, The Seattle Times reported.

All four men in their 30s were rescued by helicopter Thursday morning and taken to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center with injuries including altitude sickness and frostbite. All were released Thursday night, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.

The climbers called 911 Monday afternoon. But Mount Rainier National Park officials said stormy weather hampered five attempts at a helicopter rescue Monday and Tuesday and that the weather kept helicopters grounded on Wednesday.

It wasn’t until Thursday morning that a park helicopter crew could land and take Krasnitskiy, Vasily Aushev and Kostya “Constantine” Toporov of New York City; and Ruslan Khasbulatov of Jersey City, New Jersey, off the mountain.

The climbers set out last Friday, camping low on the dangerous and technical Liberty Ridge route the first night, but grew concerned about rock fall after a climber recently died at the route’s usual high camp, Krasnitskiy said.

They decided to skip the high camp, planning to spend a night near the summit, and set out Saturday at 10 p.m. — an early alpine start.

The climbers sailed through the high camp, at about 10,500 feet (3,200 meters), but one of the climbers became sick from the altitude, which began to slow them down.

By Sunday evening, the ill climber was exhausted, and they had to make an unplanned camp on steep snow.

A stiff wind, unexpected and strong, shook their camp, and the wind began to rip and break their tent. Krasnitskiy lost his pack, a sleeping bag, a shovel and some food.

“Everyone was hypothermic,” he said. “It was a cold night.”

After calling 911 Monday, they watched as high winds thwarted rangers’ attempts at a helicopter rescue. They drank tea in the morning, ate meager rations of dry food and shared a single bottle of snowmelt each day.

On Tuesday, rock and snowfall littered their tent with debris. An ice ball struck one climber’s eye while he slept. When he woke up, he asked who had hit him, Krasnitskiy said.

The ice fall buried their tent platform and pressed them closer together. It was impossible to descend. On Wednesday, they forged on with their climb.

Krasnitskiy said he thought of all the people who loved him, and he knew they must be worried.

“It really hit me, there are so many people out there thinking about us and have no idea what’s going on with us. We’re here. We’re alive. It’s miserable, but we’re alive,” Krasnitskiy said. As they continued climbing, he said he just kept yelling, “We have to get there.”

On Wednesday night, Krasnitskiy said they slept in a crevasse, which blocked the wind and was surprisingly comfortable.

On Thursday morning, he said their spirits started to sink as they doubted they could continue.

“And then the helicopter arrived,” he said.

As unpleasant as parts of the climb were, Krasnitskiy, a climber for 15 years, said he’d go back.

“Every time I go up a mountain, it teaches me a lesson,” he said.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Northwest

The Washington state Capitol. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)
These Washington laws take effect July 1

Fee hikes for hunting and fishing licenses, workplace protections for immigrants and… Continue reading

Washington will have the nation’s third-highest state gas tax behind California and Pennsylvania.(Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
Gas tax will rise in Washington on July 1

Washington’s century-old fuel tax is going up again. On Tuesday, the gasoline… Continue reading

The BEAD program was created under the federal infrastructure law that former President Joe Biden signed in 2021. It was fashioned as a way to expand high-speed internet service into rural areas and other parts of the country where it was unavailable or lacking. (Stock photo)
Feds throw Washington’s $1.2B broadband program into disarray

States spent more than two years preparing to distribute the infrastructure funding, now the Trump administration is making last-minute changes to the rules.

Firefighters undertake a prescribed burn at the Upper Applegate Watershed near Medford, Oregon on Thursday, April 27, 2023. Such burns can help reduce the risk of large wildfires. (Kyle Sullivan, Bureau of Land Management/Flickr)
Trump looks to ‘consolidate’ wildland fire agencies

An executive order signed earlier this month by President Donald Trump would… Continue reading

Photo courtesy of Washington governor’s office
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, center, met with several statewide elected officials on Monday to discuss the how federal funding cuts could impact the state.
Tax collections tumble again in latest Washington budget forecast

The decline in receipts will force the state to draw down savings, but Gov. Bob Ferguson said he isn’t ready to summon the Legislature into a special session.

An EV charger in Granite Falls outside of Granite Falls City Hall on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024 in Granite Falls, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Seattle judge orders Trump administration to unfreeze EV charger funding

The preliminary court ruling would unlock the money for more than a dozen states, including $71 million for Washington.

Nearly three-quarters of acute care hospital inspections were late, as of December, according to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee. One facility hadn’t gotten a state inspection since early 2018. (Stock photo)
Washington faces major lag in state inspections of hospitals

Washington state inspectors are way behind in their examinations of hospitals and… Continue reading

A classroom inside College Place Middle School in Lynnwood in 2023. New discipline guidelines for public school students will go into effect across Washington state next month. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Washington updates student discipline rules for public schools

New discipline guidelines for public school students will go into effect across… Continue reading

The Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, which is one of the largest immigrant detention facilities in the western U.S. (Grace Deng/Washington State Standard)
WA looks to strengthen safety net for children whose parents are deported

Detained immigrant parents worried who will pick their children up from school.… Continue reading

An EV charger in Granite Falls outside of Granite Falls City Hall on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024 in Granite Falls, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Seattle judge considers reversing Trump’s EV charger funding freeze

Congress appropriated $5 billion, but the Trump administration stopped it from reaching states. Washington is leading the legal fight to access the money.

Washington’s payouts — known as tort liability — have skyrocketed from $72 million in fiscal year 2018 to more than $281 million last fiscal year. (Stock photo)
Washington state lawsuit payouts skyrocket to more than $500M in past year

Claims against the state’s Department of Children, Youth and Families are driving a spike in cases.

The Monroe Correctional Complex on Thursday, April 9, 2020. The Monroe Correctional Complex in 2020. A new law will expand Washington’s Clemency and Pardons Board to 10 members. It also requires board members to represent different backgrounds, including an incarcerated individual, a representative of a faith-based organization, a federally recognized tribe member, and a member from a crime victim organization. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Washington state Clemency and Pardons Board will be expanded

The goal is to cut down on wait times for people seeking to have their cases reviewed.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.